Two crore player contract is peanuts - Shastri

Former team director Ravi Shastri has issued heavy criticism of the recently revised payment structure for India's cricketers.

Two weeks ago, the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators that now runs the BCCI had doubled the Grade A contracts from INR 1 crore to INR 2 crore (USD 300,000 approx). However, it was later learnt that the hike did not meet the player's demands. Shastri felt similarly underwhelmed. "Two crore is nothing, two crore is peanuts," he told reporters in Mumbai.

The major point of contention centred around the current method of revenue sharing. The board receives a lion's share of its income through television rights and 70% of it goes to the state associations. Additionally, the players were not pleased that their salaries were lower than counterparts in Australia and England.

Sources suggested that Joe Root and Steven Smith were paid INR 8 crore to INR 12 crore. In comparison, the Grade A contracted players in the Indian team - Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajinkya Rahane, M Vijay and MS Dhoni - were on INR 2 crore retainers.

"The grade contracts of a Test player should be the highest." Shastri said. "Pujara should be the highest, on par with the top players. Your A grade contracts should be massive. I know it has been increased by double but there is room for [more].

"An 'A' grade cricketer like Pujara should get a massive amount where he is not bothered whether he plays IPL or not. In fact, he will be happy, he can say 'I will play two months of county cricket'."

There had been no changes to India's retainer contracts since 2010. The first steps to the current revisions were taken earlier this month when head coach Anil Kumble met with the CoA on behalf of the players.